GRACE
Part
l0
In the last Dear Co-Laborer” Issue, I noted that counseling can provide
tourniquet for the pain of life, but it cannot provide a cure. Only Jesus does
this. Pain is one product of sin that can only be healed by acknowledged that
we sin against God and God alone. In this Issue I will develop this thought
more completely.
Five
times, in Hebrews 9:9, 14; 10:2, 22;
and 13:18, the author discusses the conscience. In
Hebrews
9:9 he says that the Old Testament Levitical system could not “perfect, as
pertaining to
the
conscience” It. Hebrews 9:14
Let us draw near with a true
heart in full measure of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
The dictionary defines imputation as ‘to
ascribe to or charge (a person) with an act or quality because of the conduct
of another over whom one has control or for whose acts or conduct one is
responsible. To attribute (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to a person or persons
vicariously.”
When we say that
Christ died for our sins, it means that God imputed to Christ the sin of the
believer and imputed to the believer the righteousness of Christ The Apostle
Paul state, this beautifully in II Corinthians 5:21:
For he hath made Him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we. May be made the righteousness of God
in Him.
The fact that God imputes the believer’s sin to Christ
means that He was legally guilty, but morally innocent. The fact that God
imputes Christ’s righteousness to the believer means that the believer is
legally innocent, but morally guilty. In other words, a double imputation
touches both Christ and the believer.
The legal imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us not
only satisfied the justice of God but also our sense of justice as well. If God
had not demanded justice, then we would be insecure in our relationship with
Him. God said, “The soul that sinneth, it shal1 die.” If God did not demand
death as the payment for sin, we could not trust His Word.
So also, if God did not
demand justice against sin, the believer would feel dirty and guilty, knowing
that God had not properly dealt with his sin. In order for the believer to
commune with God, he needs both justification and sanctification. The
propitious death of Christ effects the first; the regenerating word of the Holy
Spirit the second.
We saw In Hebrews
9:14 that the death of Christ cleansed the conscience from dead works. These
are the works that we perform to atone for our sins. They are dead in that they
cannot reconcile us to God. But they do serve to show that we oil feel the need
to do works in atonement for our sins.
The reason they can never cleanse the conscience is, we
are never sure how many such works are necessary to make the wrong right, even
if we assume that such works in fact can atone. Our consciences would still be
haunted by the fact that, once committed, we can never make the wrong right.
For example, let’s say that you are on a hunting trip and accidentally
kill your best friend. His death leaves a widow and four children. How do you
forgive yourself for the accident? You can provide for the financial needs of
the family for the rest of their lives, but bow do you replace their husband
and father; the rest of your life your conscience will be haunted - unless,
that is, you understand what the Bible teaches on this subject.
Hebrews teaches that Jesus, the Supreme Judge and Arbitrator of all (MISSING) declares His Blood sufficient to right the
wrong. Because He is the Supreme Court, the issue is settled. From here you
merely have to ask whether you believe Him.
All are familiar with the narrative in II Samuel 11, where David kills
Uriah after committing adultery with his wife Bathsheba. In Psalm 51:4
declares:
Against thee,
thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest
be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou, judgest.
Notice that David did not say
that he had sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba, or the nation of Israel, or anyone
other than God. The sin was solely between David and God. This is critically
important to understand if God is to MISSING our
consciences.
Let’s assume that Uriah had brothers and sisters who knew what David did.
Let’s assume further that they were bold enough to remind the king of what he
did. Everywhere David went, they called attention to the fact that he was a
murderer. Even though he knew that God had forgiven him, David may still have a
guilty conscience.
Unless, that is, David knew that Uriah went to be with Jesus right on
schedule. David was a negative instrument in accomplishing the will of God, but
he did not shape Uriah’s destiny, in His sovereignty God delegates that to no
one!
Once forgiven by God, David could proceed with his life, head upright for
his conscience was clean because he understood that although he was responsible
for killing Uriah, ultimately God decreed that Uriah’s time had come to go from
this life to the next, and David, the sinner, did not alter Uriah’s
destiny. David sinned against God
alone.
By way of summary, in order to
have a cleansed conscience, you must understand the legal basis through which
the works of Jesus Christ alone satisfies Justice and believe that it is not
through your own works. The conscience must be ‘purged front dead works’.
Christ imputes to you His righteousness and In His death satisfies time justice
of God for your sin. You sin against Him and only Him. This is the reason you
can have a clean conscience.
Secondly, you must understand
that you cannot shape another’s destiny, This means that you cannot
legitimately have a problem with another person. Although you are responsible
for your actions, and God will judge you on the basis of them, you cannot hurt
another person, and others cannot hurt you.
If you feel that what you do
cleanses your conscience, you will never know how much is enough in rectifying
the wrong committed. This doesn’t mean that restitution is unnecessary. The
will of God, however, determines restitution, not the conscience of the sinner
or the offended party. You never alleviate guilt by restitution. The guilt is
removed solely because Jesus paid the demands of Justice and has forgiven the
sin.
We
see the grace of God, then, not only in Justification, but also in
Sanctification, in Justification Christ paid the penalty for my sin. In
Sanctification Christ cleanses my conscience from all sin.
Rejoicing
in grace,
“If we confess our
sins, He
is faithful and just
to
forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness”
(1 John 1:9)